


Pride

by Cinerari



Category: Captain Harlock
Genre: Alternate Universe - Demons, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Gen, demon!Harlock
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-04
Updated: 2018-12-04
Packaged: 2019-09-07 03:03:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16845862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cinerari/pseuds/Cinerari
Summary: Daiba attempts to summon a demon to assist him in a quest for revenge, but the demon instead takes it upon himself to look after the kid.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> An old fic that was going to be longer.

Doors to the mortal realm didn’t appear in the sixth circle of Hell. If a human dug that deep in search of a demon, they knew exactly which one of us they wanted. Humans only opened doorways in the upper circles, where any eager-to-please, weakling demon could step through.

Opening a door down here was asking for trouble. Without a means to bind us, we could walk through and do as we pleased. Some of the other pride demons may have taken advantage of that, possessing or killing the mortal on the other side. I could have as well, but I was too interested in meeting the fool who thought to open such a door.

Like much around me, the door was covered in flames which licked the air. Unlike those on the coffins, though, these flames were blue, hovering in the air in the usual shape of a pentagram. I wished the humans could learn to be a bit more creative than always using pentagrams, but it would have to do. Before someone could take it from me, I stepped through the flames.

In a roaring blaze of fire and smoke, I found myself sitting on scorched hardwood surrounded by molten candles. For now, the door was locked tight behind me.

My eye swept above the human before glancing down to find him. Though he wasn’t technically my summoner, he was by-far the youngest and smallest human to bring me into the mortal realm. Large brown eyes took me in with shock and awe as he sat on his hands and knees in front of me. His hair was a mess of blond, framing childishly round cheeks. “It worked!” he gasped.

That was not a good sign.

I held still as he reached out a trembling hand toward my horns. “So cool,” he said, a smile spreading across his lips. “They’re like ram horns.” He poked the tip of one, eyes shining.

“I should hope so.” He jolted against the sound of my voice. “As a full demon, I also have what you humans have called ‘goat legs,’ but I have found you humans don’t like being greeted by such appendages or a lack of clothes.”

His lips pressed together as pink splotched across his cheeks. “Yes,” he huffed. “Keep your clothes on. And keep your normal feet too.”

“Who’s to say my human feet are normal?” I wiggled my toes, missing my hooves already. “They are so large and inconvenient.”

He sat back on his haunches, crossing his arms. “Well I summoned you, so I say they’re normal, and you have to listen to me.”

He was lucky I was bored enough to go through the portal. Any other pride demon would have been happy to rip his head off. I stood, dusting soot from the clothes I used when last summoned. It appeared they were far from commonplace anymore. The boy in front of me had no collar or cravat on his shirt. Its sleeves were cut off near his shoulders. Apparently pants dotted in strange print were expected now, rather than slacks. He had moons and stars all over his, much like the night I could see out the window behind him.

With a snap, I changed my shirt to a black version of his, only changing the material of my pants. I would have no moons on them if I could get away with it. The boy applauded the simple spell, once again enthralled by me. I almost felt bad ruining his fantasy of a demon slave.

“You did not summon me,” I said. “You simply opened a portal, a foolish move for someone reaching for such a deep circle. You’re lucky I derive no pleasure from killing mortals.”

“What!?” He barked like a small dog, jumping to his feet to glare up at me. If anything, it made him seem smaller, only reaching even with my chest. “Don’t try to lie to me. I summoned you, so you have to listen to me now. I know the rules, and you’re not going to slip one by me.”

His manner of speech was odd, but speech changed each time I visited, even more so if I’d landed on a different continent than usual. “Where did you learn of such an incantation?” I asked. “Whatever the tome, it misled you.”

“Tome?” His brows pinched. “I just looked up how to summon demons on the internet.”

Now it was my turn to look upon him with confusion. “The…the what?”

“You know, the internet? The computer?”

That cleared up nothing. “I do not know of this tome, but perhaps you should no longer use it as a source of incantation. It severely misled you. Unless you have a specific demon in mind and know how to bind them, going beyond the first or second circle is dangerous. Doors to Hell should only be used for low-level demons.”

He scratched a hand through his bird’s nest of hair, frowning. “What are circles?” he muttered.

I hid a sigh as I placed a hand atop his head. “No more summoning demons until you truly understand what you are doing, human.”

“That’s not my name!” he snapped, smacking my hand away. “You should call me master!” His lips thinned again as the blush returned. “Okay, no, don’t call me that. Just call me Daiba. And as your summoner, I command you to find-”

He yelped as I grabbed him by his waist, tossing him over my shoulder. “I told you, you did not summon me. You have no power to give me orders. Now, clearly it is far beyond the time when you should be sleeping.”

“Put me down!” he howled. “That’s an order!” He beat his fists against my back and kicked his feet while I scanned the lower level of his home. It was a modest place. I stood in the living area, the kitchen and dining room through one doorway, the exit through another, and some sort of hidden room through a third.

“Your bedroom is upstairs, I presume.” I started that way, his small fists still bopping at my back.

“I don’t need to go to sleep! I am an adult!” he screeched like a child throwing a tantrum. “I can stay up however long I want!”

“Regardless of your age, you humans make terrible, rash decisions while tired.” The stairs turned and continued around the corner. As I followed the path, I felt a jolt behind me as his head hit the wall. I glanced over my shoulder to ensure the harm was minimal. “Ah, I do apologize.”

“You’re defective,” he grumbled, rubbing his wound. “Demons aren’t supposed to be polite or care or anything. How can I send you back? I want a refund.”

“Again, you have no power to control my actions. Because of the way I was summoned, I use you as a tether to this world. As long as your body exists in some form, I can feed off its energies to remain here. And who are you to say how a demon should be? Am I not the first you’ve seen?”

He went limp against me, sighing. “I still say you’re weird for a demon.”

I smiled as I finished my ascent of the stairs. “We demons are all different, like you humans. We all have our own way of doing things.”

At the top of my climb, I found four doors. “Mine’s on the right,” he said.

Even before I opened his door, I could feel sadness from within the room. It was a deep, heavy sadness that sank down to my bones. The sadness permeated through the entire house, but it was mixed with anger there. Here, it was pure, like utter darkness. The weaker demons who fed on emotion would eat well in a place like this.

Inside the room was an unmade bed, a cluttered desk, and a strange glowing light. It sat in the middle of the floor, projecting swirls of blue and purple along with silver stars throughout the room. It appeared to be a genuine map of the heavens, as I could pick out some constellations.

“You sleep with a light on?” I asked.

“It’s not a light. It’s stars and stuff. Now let me down!” His wriggling renewed until I bent over and dropped him to his bed. The thick blanket fluffed up to greet him.

“Daiba.” I tested the name as he glared up at me. “As…enjoyable as it is to be in Hell, I believe I will remain here for a while and make sure you do not attempt to open another portal. I doubt you will be so lucky a second time.”

He pulled his blanket up over his nose, eyes narrowed on me. “I think I was pretty unlucky. You’re useless.”

I found him too amusing to be offensive. Such a small human could not look as threatening as he wished hiding under a plush, pink blanket.

“Get some sleep, Daiba,” I said as I set to work tucking the blanket under him. If possible, his brow furrowed even more at this. “Perhaps your thinking will be clearer in the morning.”

“You didn’t even listen to what I wanted,” he huffed from behind the fabric.

I patted his head once more, partially checking for a bump. “I do not take orders from you, as you’ll recall. I may listen to a request, but not tonight. Rest for now. We can speak more in the morning.”

I started for the door, but a question hit my back. “Where are you going to sleep?”

“I will find a place.” It did not matter much. I could sleep on the floor just as well as a bed.

“You can sleep in the room at the end of the hall,” he said, his chin poking out from beneath the blanket. “That’s the guest room.”

“Very well.” I nodded, starting away again, but it seemed there was no escape.

“Hey,” he called. “What’s your name anyway?”

I paused, frowning at the stars aligned over the door. Giving away our true names was dangerous. If a human knew it, we could be bound to them like a bird in a cage. But this human was a foolish one. “My name is Harlock,” I said for reasons I couldn’t fathom. I was sure he did not know the power he now possessed.

“Alright,” he said. “Goodnight, Harlock.”

He was nothing more than an amusing, foolish human, but he brought a smile to my face as I slipped from the room. I did not care for him by any means. Caring for humans was utter nonsense. But I was glad I had been the one to find his door. I was glad no harm had come to him.

For now, I would ensure things stayed that way.


	2. Chapter 2

I awoke before the sun so I could see it rise. As much as I preferred the moon, I had not seen a sunrise in ages. I lived in a world with no sky, so seeing this one fade between different colors was a sight to behold. I had my own reasons to stay in the mortal realm, so I would remain with the boy for now. I couldn’t stray far from him, unfortunately. His blood was used to open the gate, so I was chained to his flesh.

As the sky’s pinks and oranges gave way to light blue, the scent of fear tinged the air. Fear smelled sharp and bitter, like the scent of blood. As much as I enjoyed the scent, I pulled myself from the bedroom window and went to find its source.

I paused in front of Daiba’s door. As expected, he was the one frightened by something. There appeared to be no one else in the house even now. I doubted Daiba had cause to fear at that moment, but I saw no reason not to check on him. I received no answer to my knock, so I slipped inside.

The glow of the starlight lantern was drowned out by sunlight pouring in through the window. Daiba was a ball hidden by blankets, but the fabric rose and fell with each slow breath. Despite the prickling scent rolling off him, he appeared to sleep soundly.

“Daiba,” I called as I tiptoed around the dirty clothes scattered about the floor. He didn’t show any signs of hearing, so I peeled the blanket away. He lay scrunched up on his side, a puddle of drool pooling from his open mouth. The only signs of anything amiss were the continuous twitches in his fingers and face. A nightmare, I guessed. It wasn’t my area of expertise, so I couldn’t vanquish it for him through any means but waking him.

“Daiba,” I said again, tapping his shoulder. A rattling snore answered me. “Daiba.” I smacked his cheek. “Arise, small human.”

His eyes dragged open, though he still appeared asleep, staring off into nothing. “Are you alright?” I asked.

His brow furrowed as he turned to look my way. Then a yell tore from his throat. In one flash of motion, he shot up, and his fist connected solidly with my cheek. I stumbled away as his yelling continued. Before I regained my footing, he was up and out the door.

The screech faded to silence once he was in the hall. I turned as the sound of his bare feet against the floor padded back my way. His head leaned into view in the doorway, exhausted eyes staring at me. “Sorry,” he said. “I forgot you were here.”

I wasn’t sure how he could forget when I was standing over him. “Who did you think I was?” I asked.

“I dunno, some guy who broke into my house or something. I’m not used to having other people around.” He yawned and dragged a hand across his face, ambling back into the room. “What time is it? Six? What the Hell?” He frowned at the strange electronic clock as though it had wronged him somehow. “Why am I awake?”

“You were having a nightmare,” I said. “I thought best to wake you.”

He brushed past me and crawled back into bed. I didn’t think I’d ever met a human so eager to sleep past sunrise. “I get them all the time,” he muttered. “Go make yourself some breakfast if you want. Do whatever. I don’t care.” Yanking the blanket over his head, he became a ball once again.

With his permission, or some form of it, I took to exploring the house. The kitchen was a bit of a mess, dishes stacked in piles and far too much food for one person. Even worse was the strange workshop through the living room. There were papers and small metal parts scattered about as though this was a greed demon’s hoard. Machines buzzed and whirred, spitting out more paper in an endless stream. The only organized rooms in the house were the guest bedroom and the room across from Daiba’s. It appeared untouched, dust settling on the dresser and bedspread. I thought better than to bother it.

In the corner of the living room was a shrine in the form of a cabinet. A picture of a man older than me in appearance sat in the center of it. The area around it was weighted by sadness similar to Daiba’s room. So this was his method of mourning. I couldn’t make much sense of it, but humans were always led to strange things because of their emotions.

As I waited for him to surface, I sampled bits from his kitchen. Anything in a form of container tasted fake, like I was chewing some sort of manufactured product and not real food. The fruits and vegetables, at least, echoed the flavors in my memory. The advancement in iceboxes was a nice touch. Unfortunately, there was a severe lack of alcohol, so I couldn’t test my memory of that. Perhaps I could convince him to get some later.

I waited and waited, lounging about and reading the strange books on astronomy. He appeared after the sun surpassed its peak in the sky. His hair stuck up on one side, all tangles and knots. He shuffled to the kitchen like an ambling corpse. I followed.

“Good afternoon, Daiba.”

“Mornin’,” he mumbled.

It was nowhere near morning, but he did not appear coherent enough to see reason. I watched as he poured some form of meal into a bowl along with milk. Somehow, he managed to eat without falling asleep against the table.

“Do you have a farm of some form to attend?” I asked. “Or a craft?”

His eyelids dragged open and close in time with his slow breaths. I was about to repeat myself when he finally answered. “Craft? Like magic? I don’t do magic.”

That much was clear from his lack of knowledge on demons. “No, like tailoring or- Well, baking is out of the question.” He glanced around his kitchen along with me as he shoved another spoonful of food in his mouth.

“I’m a student,” he said around his chewing. “Most people my age are, but they’re usually in high school. When was the last time you were summoned? You must be super old.”

I had no idea what this high school was, but I guessed he was behind in his studies. That was bound to happen when he slept all day. “I don’t keep track of the passage of time in Hell,” I said, “though I suppose I am old compared to you. How old are you? Ten?”

His eyes narrowed. “I’m fourteen.”

“Ah. You’re all so difficult to tell apart in age, you know.” But then again, he looked young for fourteen. “How old do I look to you?”

“I dunno. Thirty maybe?” He picked up his bowl and slurped the milk from it. His manners left something to be desired.

“Why aren’t you going to your classes today?” I asked. “Is it Sunday?”

“Nope.” He stood, dumping the bowl onto the tower of dishes in the sink. It was a wonder they didn’t collapse. “It’s summer,” he said. “I’m free of classes for the moment. I tried to get an internship at the observatory, but they wouldn’t hire me because I’m too young.” He snorted, fluffing the knots from his hair. “What’s the point of being a prodigy if they won’t let you show off? They would have let me if Dad were still around.” His expression soured further, sadness lowering his gaze.

Other than him being a prodigy, which I was not convinced was true, things began to make sense. “Your father is dead,” I stated as confirmation for myself. “That shrine in the living room is for him, and that’s his bedroom upstairs. That’s why you never go in it.”

He flinched under my stare despite his expression hardening with anger. “How do you know that?”

“I couldn’t smell any of your emotions in that room. The rest of the house reeks of them.”

He looked at me as though I’d slapped him. “You can…smell emotions?” His nose wrinkled along with his brow. “Gross.”

“It’s not gross,” I sighed. “It’s like smelling anything else. Certain breeds of demons smell emotions because that is their form of nourishment. In fact, you would have been much better off investing your summon in that sort of demon rather than a pride.”

He crossed his arms and took a seat on his table. Those soft eyes of his sharpened as they flicked over me. “You’re a pride demon? The website didn’t say anything about that. I just thought you were a goat demon because, you know.” He gestured to my horns. “I was kind of waiting for you to bleat.”

Yes, he was incredibly lucky I was patient for a pride. For now, all his limbs would remain attached. With a snap of my fingers, a swarm of black flames rose around me, consuming my clothes and flesh. Daiba leaned back as far as the table would allow him. He almost collapsed onto its surface, the flames reflecting in his wide eyes.

As they died down, I waited to see the boy’s shock and fear. In my full demon form, he would see me as a monster. He would realize his mistakes in treating me like another human. I needed him to understand why we were not to be trifled with.

And he did appear startled but not quite how I’d hoped. His hands shot to cover his face and hide his eyes. “You’re naked!” he screeched. “Put on some clothes!”

I scuffed a hoof against the floor, sighing. Never mind the fur covering my lower half or the crown of fire. No, why should the hooves or blackened eyes be a concern when I was “naked”?

“I don’t have any such parts in this form,” I growled, my tone echoing with a lower octave. “I’m not some sick lust demon. Though you may not realize it, my true form is quite impressive. I am a pride. All other demons pale in comparison. You are supposed to fear me.” Perhaps I’d been around him too long, as I was beginning to sound like an insistent child.

His fingers opened into slits, eyes flashing over me. “Do you have a tail?” he asked.

One of my hooves stamped without my permission. This boy managed to frustrate me to no end. “That’s not what’s important right now. What’s important is that we demons are not to be fooled around with. We are not people as you humans are. We are dangerous.”

His hands slipped from his face, as he leaned around to check for my tail. Yes, I had a tail. It was a very nice tail. I didn’t care what he thought. When he spotted it, blush arose in his cheeks. He smelled of the same enthrallment of the night before. “You do have a tail,” he whispered. “A little deer tail. You’re like a faun.” His lips pressed together in a tight line, and the blush deepened.

“I’m not a faun!” My hooves stamped once again. I found my face warming in return for reasons I could not fathom. With a snap of my fingers, my human form returned. I regained the clothes he liked so much but kept my horns as usual. Some demons preferred to pass as humans in full, but I would not hide what I was. Besides, my horns were too nice to hide.

He sat back once I was done, looking unchanged from the experience. I would need to try something else if he was to fear demons. Perhaps a good fight would do that. Two demons tearing into each other, black blood seeping from deep wounds – surely that would be enough. I would simply need another demon to get the job done. I could kill any lesser demon easily.  

“Daiba,” I began. He perked up at attention. “I want you to show me the ritual you used for my, er, summoning.”

“Are you going to use it to go back?” he asked. “I do want to exchange you for a working demon.”

I reached around, grabbing him by the back of his shirt. “Just show me the ritual, Daiba. I have much to teach you.” He wheezed as I pulled him from the table. Carrying him to the living room was met with much barking and disapproval, but when I plopped him down in front of the charred spot from the night before, he set to work recreating it.

Like the food in his kitchen, the whole thing felt strangely manufactured. The chalk came in a perfect stick. Herbs came from bottles in his cabinets. The paper for listing his desired demon or circle was a pristine white. He hesitated as he picked up the knife for the final piece. “I forgot what to write,” he muttered. “Hang on.”

I stood there, blinking as he dashed upstairs. He came back down with some sort of oddly shaped book without words on the cover. It settled next to him with a solid crack against the floor, but when he opened it, I realized it was no book. Some sort of screen flickered to life on the top flap, while symbols lined the bottom.

“Is this the tome you used?” I asked. I couldn’t make heads or tails of it, but I assumed it ran on the same technology as that in the messy room of gadgets.

“Yeah,” he said, clicking his fingers against the symbols. “Now which one did I use? I think it was…this one?”

I wished he would have sounded surer of himself, especially when it involved him wielding a knife. He pricked the tip of his pinky with a wince. Then he began to write on the paper in symbols I was more familiar with. But his writing couldn’t have been the same as the night before. Those symbols represented the third circle, not the sixth. I supposed it would have to do, though I would have preferred more of a challenge.

“Okay,” he said with his pinky stuck in his mouth. “Now I just have to burn it in the bowl.”

I nodded. “Go ahead. We will use this as a lesson.”

Despite the suspicion in the glance he threw my way, he dropped the paper in his metal bowl, which should have been a chalice. The fire should have been from a torch too, but he flicked open a shiny piece of metal, and a flame the size of a fingertip appeared. “What is that?” I asked as he tilted it into the bowl.

“A lighter.” He flicked the top on and off a few more times as the bowl’s contents crackled and curled into the heat. “You’ve missed out on a lot of stuff, haven’t you?”

“Perhaps, but I have lived far longer than you and will continue to live far beyond your death. I have seen more than you ever will.” My words appeared to unnerve him. He leaned away from me, his face twisted with worry. Of course, humans feared death. I tended to forget. Reaching down, I ruffled my fingers through his hair, catching a few knots. He had no reason to fear death as long as I was around. I would show him that once the unfortunate glutton arrived.

They appeared in what looked like a puff of soot. It burst out from the door along with a few flying rocks. Daiba shielded his head with his arms, but I let everything hit my skin. Rather than burning, it chilled me. The third circle was perhaps the opposite of my home. While we were constantly consumed by fire, their world was ice and snow. Though the snow was black, it was as cold as its white form. The rock-like hail skittered across the floor to form puddles in time.

For a moment, I thought a demon had opened the door without stepping through. Most gluttons were difficult to miss, but none stood in front of me. My eye shot down to see if the pentagram was still burning, and there I found him. He was no more than a century old, a pudgy little thing ruffling the snow from his hair. He looked around the room with wide, doe eyes. They were the same warm brown as the hair framing his round cheeks.

“Oh,” Daiba said, reaching out to poke the young demon’s nose. “He’s cute. What are you, like four?”

“I’m ninety-seven!” the glutton announced eagerly. “I’ve never been summoned before. I’m going to help! I will eat things for you!” He appeared to know about as much about summoning as Daiba. He’d even mirrored his outfit after the human’s, simply shrinking it down to his size.

He gave a small cry of confusion as I placed my hands under his arms. Demons were vicious, terrible creatures. We were to be feared. We were horrible monsters. But as I scooped the glutton up and held him over my head, I couldn’t help but agree with Daiba. He was cute.

“Hello, small one,” I said. “I am called Harlock of the sixth circle.”

“Hello!” he said, flashing a grin filled with razor fangs. “I’m Monono! Oh, but I’m not supposed to give out my name, so you have to keep it a secret.”

“What was I supposed to learn from this exactly?” Daiba asked.

Honestly, I couldn’t recall.


End file.
